We begin by coming in where last episode ended off, being reminded that Honyala Land is in danger. That King Papa Kamo is in danger. The Karls Knights dive right into the magic circle to go help out the kingdom. Furanui orders Edelstein to follow them, exclaiming that he’ll be the one to save their father and the land.
Ata stands there for a moment, his hand still held out for the handshake that never came. Unazuki walks over and places a hand on his shoulder, he says that he has always noticed how hard that Ata has been working and that most of all he wants Ata to be happy. Which is why, despite the fact he claims to hate violence. He throws Ata into the portal and him and Masa bring up the rear.
The Defense club finds themselves in Honyala Land and discovers that the lands inhabitants are missing. In their place, tin soldiers with spears begin attacking them.
They find some remaining citizens to get some answers and find out that Minister Wao has staged a coup. Minister Wao is the royal teacher/adviser for the kingdom and also Karls and Furanui’s uncle.
I think I vaguely remember seeing his character design in the background of the scenes that talked about Honyala Land before? Doesn’t matter.
He’s thrown a coup because King Kamo is too lax. The kingdom is too happy and content and thus boarderling lazy and complacent. His lukewarm way of leading this, his uncertain way of speech. Mao is sick of it and he tries to use the fact that Kamo always praised Karls to try to bring Furanui to his side and use him as a pawn.
He had always intended to use Furanui as a successor to his coup. The entire battle between the brothers on earth nothing but a way to re-enforce the bitterness and rift between the two of them.
In a way, Karls took after their father, while Furanui took after their uncle. There was also a certain jealousy, because Karls was always praised while Furanui was not.
A feel that Ata knows all too well. I suppose that’s what drew Furanui to Ata and to make the student council into Edelstein in the first place. However, they know that Furanui doesn’t truly hate his brother and father. He is jealous, yes, but deep down that doesn’t measure up to real hate. Just like Ata was jealous of Kyōtarō, but never truly hated him. Besides, they both never stepped forward and were honest about what they wanted either.
Furanui rejects his uncle and the Defense club and student council all ascend to a special transformed version. Super Happy versions for all of them.
We get a full song and dance number for the ‘Are you Happy‘ song. They make the Minister happy and he’s allowed to just relax in the sun for once…god, it’s framed like he died. That’s too dark for this show, so i’m just gonna take this at face value and not read too much into it.
Karls and Furanui become twin kings. Helping each other compensate for one another’s short comings. The boys return to earth and get to have their bath together at last. Ata and Kyōtarō share their handshake and everyone is happy. At long last.
Final Impressions
I don’t think I can express how much I enjoyed Happy Kiss.
I loved the new cast immensely, even more than the first two seasons cast. The thing that really worked this season is they really improved on giving the characters more backstory and development past whatever trope they are set to cover. Yes, they are all still very much tropes. They just feel more developed then the cast before. Which is sad given the fact i’ve had two seasons with the previous cast and only one with this one.
I loved the dynamic between these characters. The stakes seemed higher then usual somehow. Perhaps because it scrapped the reality TV show plot. Or because the cast had more complex relationships with each other then before. Masa and Ichiro being cousins, Unazuki and Wakura being friends, the rift between Ryoma, Ata and Kyōtarō.
Sure, there are characters and relationships i’d certainly love to know more about. I want to hear about Taichi’s delinquent days. I want to see how him and Ichiro became friends. I want to see more of why Ichiro worships Wakura as much as he does past what we saw in the time capsule episode.
Overall, this was just a great season. It had a lot of cute hints to the original series, but never relied too much on the tie and managed to shine brightly on it’s own. I’m pretty glad that the fight for the crown of Honyala Land was legit and we didn’t end up with another lame reality TV show twist at the end.
Rather you’re watching after finishing the rest of the seasons or you hopped in on this one, there is something for you to enjoy. So I will be giving Happy Kiss a 9/10. Why not a 10/10? Because nobody has told me there will be a second season yet!
I CRAVE! I love this cast. I want more of these boys!